23 Tables.docx

**Indicator** **Description** ----------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loose associa...

**Indicator** **Description** ----------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loose associations Pattern of speech in which a person's ideas slip off track onto another unrelated or obliquely related topic; also known as *derailment*. Tangentiality Occurs when a person digresses from the topic at hand and goes off on a tangent, starting an entirely new train of thought. Incoherence/word salad/neologisms Speaking in meaningless phrases with words that are seemingly randomly chosen, often made up, and not connected. Illogicality Refers to speech in which there is an absence of reason and rationality. Circumstantiality Occurs when a person goes into excessive detail about an event and has difficulty getting to the point of the conversation. Pressured/distractible speech Can be identified when a patient is speaking rapidly and there is an extreme sense of urgency or even frenzy as well as tangentiality, making it is nearly impossible to interrupt the person. Poverty of speech The opposite of pressured speech; identified by the absence of spontaneous speech in an ordinary conversation. The person cannot engage in small talk and gives brief or empty responses.